Notes: If this is an Amanita, then the spores are amyloid. The spore print I obtained was fairly light, and the ring on the stipe lookes like Lepiota, so I’m not certain that the darkening spores (in Meltzer’s) were amyloid or dextrinoid.

I suspect Amanita because, even though I did not successfully harvest a volval sac, when I dug up the area where the mushroom was found, I unearthed material that looks like it may have been a volval sac.

Comments

The gill margins are typical of Amanita (sterile and decorated with the cells that allow separation of gills from partial veil). There are numerous 2-spored basidia. The gracile appearance of the fruiting body also suggests bisporigera (from what we know or think we know). So I’d go for bisporigera. Thanks for sending the material. We have accessioned it and it is headed for the sampling queue.

about bisporigera. Back in the days when the 4-spored and 2-spored specimens were separated into two species, Alexander Smith’s rule for macroscopic ID was that the slender,, more delicate ones were “bisporigera” and the more robust ones were “virosa.” The species has some very variable characters (including the number of spores per basidium and the macroscopic habit). So I’m inclined to think bisporigera when I see a delicate little creature like this one. Our cultural view has shifted, and I have remained in the 1970s. :)

very frail specimen. It seemed kinda like an interesting one, so I decided that preserving the fruit body would be the best thing to do, and I did not sacrifice part if to KOH. Also, this seemed unlikely to be an example of bisporigera, as my concept of this species is of a robust mushroom.

The specimen is available, and I’ll include it within your holiday package :-)